Ms Maria Graham:

I mentioned previously at the committee that the second cycle will shortly be published. We are trying to focus on public engagement in terms of river basin management plans, including reaching out to communities by examining things from a catchment perspective rather than simply at the tap. One of the things that has been established is a local authority water and communities office with a view to having specialist support officers and community water officers to deal with this broader water issue, as well as working with the Public Water Forum and other bodies to establish a stakeholder forum which would be more national. It would look not only at Irish Water issues and rural water issues but also wider river basin issues.

The point was made that this is all about protecting water as a resource from beginning to end in that cycle. There is quite a lot to be rolled out in the near term in that engagement process and the forum has been integral to moving that agenda on.